TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 523 



There is danger of alfalfa being killed every winter, although as a 

 rule it lives through and comes on vigorously in the spring. Those who 

 have tried growing it once or twice and have met with this result have 

 become discouraged. Lacking persistency they now claim it will not 

 withstand freezing out because of cold winters. The fact is that seldom 

 if ever does it become cold enough to freeze out this hardy plant. In- 

 stead it is the alternate freezing and thawing during the spring which 

 cracks and heaves the ground and breaks off the roots of the plant, mak- 

 ing it die. By overcoming this objection the problem of successfully 

 growing alfalfa is solved, for it is easy enough to master all other ad- 

 verse conditions. 



The application of a top dressing each fall after the ground has frozen 

 or even after the field has become covered with snow will have a tendency 

 to hold the frost in the ground until such time as the danger of freezing 

 and heaving of the ground is past. Some successful growers top dress 

 their fields with horse manure, raking it off again the following spring. 

 This makes extra work, however, so that where well rotted manure is 

 available its use is advised, for not only does it protect the alfalfa from 

 alternate freezing and thawing but by adding richness to the soil stimu- 

 lates quick and vigorous growth in the spring. 



Top dressing means work, it is true, and the question arises, is it 

 worth while? The answer to this may well be, whatever is worth doing 

 at all is worth doing well, and the warning may be well given. Unless 

 the work pertaining to growing alfalfa is well done the task is not worth • 

 while, for alfalfa refuses to respond to careless methods and will not 

 grow a half a crop at a time as will many other grasses. If proper 

 methods are employed it will grow and produce in great volumes, other- 

 wise it will not grow at all. All experience teaches these facts. 



I have in mind a section some 45 miles northeast of St. Louis where 

 practically every farmer had tried to grow alfalfa, failed and it was 

 generally agreed that the crop was not a success there. During the year 

 1905 the writer, having charge of the Auten Farm where scores of tons 

 of alfalfa were fed annually, decided to try growing it even under these 

 supposed adverse conditions. The first of July a field of fall wheat 

 was harvested and the shocks removed from a 10-acre tract which prom- 

 ised to be most suitable from the standpoint of location and drainage. 

 There was a possibility that the soil might be acid. Alfalfa refuses to 

 grow in such soils because acid kills the bacteria that grow on the roots. 



To determine this five cents worth of litmus paper was purchased at 

 the drug store, a handful of the soil moistened and placed upon the paper. 

 The blue of the paper was soon turned to pink by the moistened soil. 

 This reaction indicated definitely the presence of acid and proved the 

 necessity of using lime on the soil to neutralize it or the application of 

 a heavy coating of well rotted manure. 



After removing the harvested grain one man and a four-horse team 

 were put to work discing the field. There was no defiinite number of 

 times allotted for the discing. It was to be continued first one way and 

 then another until a deep dust mulch had been provided. Following this 



